Mayor's Row....by Ned Mitchell



I am always amused this time of year by the number of quacks that come out of the woodwork in their attempt to provide a real Scrooge like meaning to the season we are now in. Even though the weather has been mild the past week and very enjoyable, we are still in a Christmas mode. You can visually see it watching people scurry about shopping. You can hear it by listening to folks talk about their holiday plans and Christmas music is playing in the background all around us. Churches are making ready for the celebration of the birth of the Christ child, Yes, its' beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

But wait, those villains are out there among us who would destroy our Christmas and they strike fear in the hearts of those liberal thinking folks every year at this time. Our most recent organization to join the ACLU at this time of the year are those at PETA. PETA stands for People for Ethical Treatment of Animals. PETA recently made the news nationwide in their protest of a Methodist Church in Alaska having a live nativity scene. PETA not only thinks that we as Americans kill chickens in a non ethical manner, they also don't think animals should be used in live nativity scenes this time of year. The only problem with this bunch of kooks is the Methodist Church in question uses real people wearing animal costumes to portray their live nativity scene. Oh, people, well that's okay, just don't use animals!

The other bunch of kooks, the ACLU in my opinion, is wrong on just about everything they promote but especially at this time of year. We have school administrators who shake in their boots at the thought of little children singing Silent Night at a school program. One of my fondest memories of that famous Christmas song was when as a child a German immigrant who lived in Sesser sang it to me in German. His name was Otto Goebel and I remember it to this day. If the ACLU continues to have their way in this country no little kids are going to grow up with those kinds of memories. I can't tell you what I got for Christmas in the way of gifts that year, but I can tell you about hearing Silent Night sang in German by an old German guy that year.

Last year we were programmed by people to say "Happy Holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas". Many stores completely took the words "Merry Christmas" out of their promotions and attempted to make us feel bad if we wished someone a "Merry Christmas". I went out of my way to wish those folks a very "Merry Christmas", which come to think of it was probably done for the wrong reason! Anyhow, this year we are once again encouraged to say "Merry Christmas" and stores are using the phrase again despite the thoughts of the ACLU.

Never fear though, Sesser will once again deliver the double whammy to the fine folks at PETA and the ACLU. In keeping with our own little holiday tradition we will have a live nativity scene in our city park provided by the fine folks at Hazel Dell Free Will Baptist Church. We will have a nativity scene on the front lawn of city hall for all to see in passing by. Of course we will have other secular decorations throughout the town for folks to enjoy, kind of mixture to provide something for everyone.

So here is our compromise. If you drive through Sesser and see the live nativity scene in city park and feel sorry for the animals, look the other way, I'm sure you can see a Santa Claus or reindeer somewhere close by. If you drive by city hall and the nativity scene offends you, look around for some other more pleasant sight to see. If you see Santa and think Christmas has become way too commercialized then look to the nativity scenes where you will find the true meaning of Christmas. See, there you have it, something for everyone right here in Sesser. Pay us a visit this holiday season!

The drive to attract a visit by the world's most famous television hostess, Oprah, to Sesser is gaining momentum. We now have bumper stickers for our cars asking Oprah to call Sesser and signs on the outskirts of town will soon be going up. School kids are busy writing letters and a yard sign contest is about to begin. Bumper stickers may be picked up at city hall, The Print Shop, or the Opera House to start with. You will see national news coverage of this event in coming weeks as we once again attempt to put Sesser on the map and give people all over America a glimpse of what life is like here. No, that was not an invitation for any redneck comments from the peanut gallery either! We think we have a story to tell and author Gary Moore and his new book "Playing With The Enemy" does a good job of explaining to readers what it was like to grow up in Sesser in that era. We think it is better now and worth showcasing. We will keep you posted so stay tuned as we set out to do the impossible.

Many readers of this column do not know about Bethany Sink, our music teacher at Sesser-Valier and her work with the elementary, junior high, and high school chorus. I have had the privilege to hear these youngsters perform and you can trust me here, they are great! We are sponsoring a combination dinner and Christmas concert on December 9th to showcase the talent of these young people and their director. The chorus members are in need of uniforms and they have settled on a polo shirt with maroon lettering and we are asking area residents to help pay for these shirts. The dinner and show will cost $10.00 or $12.00, (we have not decided that yet) and will be held at the Opera House Café with the concert in the theater next door. We are excited about having a concert featuring traditional Christmas music and we ask you to keep open the date of December 9th. We are also working on a special appearance by members of the Sesser-Valier band. Watch for a mailer to be sent and for posters. This will be a great time to have a great dinner, listen to good Christmas music, and help a worthy cause.

Many Sesser residents have spent the past week cleaning their yards and disposing of most of the fallen leaves. This has been a good fall for cleaning the left over yard waste and preparing for winter and then spring. Keeping ditches clean will help drain off spring rains that will eventually get here. Personally I could not wait to get the garden ready for spring lettuce planting and did a fall tilling last week. The only thing we have not finished in Sesser is the cutting of the persimmon seeds to predict the weather coming at us this winter. Our version of the famous Benton Liar's Club takes place daily at 3:00 pm at the Sesser Opera House Café and it is there that we cut five persimmon seeds and forecast the winter weather. While we may be behind in stories compared to the Benton Liar's Club we are light years ahead in weather forecasting. Stay tuned for that weather report and a wooly worm report in the next few weeks.

Special congratulations go out to the parents of Lily Marie Bowlin, Megan Smothers and Ethan Bowlin of Sesser. Lily was born five weeks early on November 21st which also happens to be her grandmother Mary Lou Bowlin's birthday. She weighed 5 pounds and was born at St. Mary's Hospital in St. Louis. We welcome Sesser's newest resident!

If you need us, give us a call as we are always willing to listen to your concerns. We may be reached at 625-5322 or 625-3611 or write to us at www.sesser.org  or nedmitchell@verizon.net  or just drop by for a visit.